When Heroes Fall
by Wildmage of Emelan
Summary: First chapter is a short poem written by me, called When Heroes Fall. The following chapters are going to be the most likely depressing stories of how the heroes of Tortall fall. Kel's chapter up!
1. When Heroes Fall

_When heroes fall, they are mourned._

_When heroes fall, they are missed._

_When heroes fall, they are remembered._

_When heroes fall, they are cried over._

_  
Heroes are the ones who matter to many._

_Heroes are the ones who set the example._

_Heroes are the ones who changed lives._

_Heroes are the ones who stood up._

_  
When they fall, they leave behind memories._

_When they fall, they leave behind pictures._

_When they fall, they leave behind the ones they saved._

_When they fall, they leave behind the ones they loved._

_  
But heroes fall, no matter what is done._

_But never shall the last hero fall._

_For as long as there are people, there are heroes._

_And as long as there are heroes, there is hope._

_  
Hope for a better world._

_Hope for a better life._

_Hope for a better future._

_Hope for everything good._

_  
Maybe one day, you'll be a hero._


	2. Keladry of Mindelan

Sorry it took me so long to write this. I hope you like it!

* * *

Keladry of Mindelan stood on the wall at the town of New Hope, shooting Scanrans. Her face was calm, a result of six years in the Yamani Islands. Inside, her heart was in turmoil.

New Hope had only just been rebuilt two months ago after the attack that had ultimately led to the downfall of Blayce the Gallan. Now it was being attacked again, this time by a larger force than the last time, and it was being overrun again.

Kel turned to the sergeant standing next to her, "Take your squad and round up the refugees! Get them out through the animals' bolt hole!"

She continued firing grimly for several minutes more, then another soldier ran up to her, panting.

"Lady Kel, Sir Nealan refuses to move from the infirmary!"

Kel looked up and scanned the camp. There were only a few stragglers left, most having made it out of the camp already. She thrust her bow at the man.

"Hold the wall so the last few can get out!"

She turned and dashed down the stairs, sprinting towards the infirmary. She threw the door open and found Neal sitting next to an unconscious man, holding his hand. Kel grabbed his shoulder roughly, yanking him out of his healing trance.

"Kel, he's going to die --" Neal began.

"Meathead, get out of here! You're both going to be dead if you don't _move_!" She had kept her grip on his shoulder, and now used it to yank him out of his chair and propel him towards the door. They ran out of the infirmary as New Hope's gates fell beneath the blows of the Scanrans' battering ram.

Neal took the lead as they ran for the bolt hole. Scanrans were now pouring in through the ruined gates and heading for the buildings nearest the entrance. They neared the bolt hole, and saw a group of suspiciously short people standing there, guarding the escape with spears.

Neal opened his mouth to scold, but Kel shoved him, "Go, go, GO!" Then she skidded to a stop next to what was now clearly four of her group of spear trainees. Tobe, Gydo, Loey, Meech. Now some of the Scanrans had spotted the five of them and seen the man running through what was supposed to be solid. She muttered a curse in Yamani.

"Get out of here! Go!"

"But Lady Kel --"

"GO" Gydo, Loey, and Meech had all gone already, but there was a mulish set to Tobe's jaw. She shoved him through the space and looked back at the now-rather-large group of Scanrans. She sprinted through, turning immediately to the side and flattening herself against the outside of the wall in a crouch. She extended her glaive across the outside of the bolt hole, past the illusion of dirt that the Scanrans were going to try to pass through in a moment.

The first Scanran through tripped over the actual blade of her glaive and dropped, his legs cut out from beneath him. The next fell on his face in an untidy sprawl. She leaped to her feet, finishing him with a neat slash.

The ax of the next nearly fell into her as he came through the bolt hole. She barely managed to get her glaive's staff up to block it. The man's weight and momentum dug the ax head deep into the teak staff. She twisted and pulled her glaive, jerking the ax out of the man's hands. She backed up a step away from the bolt hole even as the next one came through.

She whipped her glaive back around and cut the former ax-wielder's throat, keeping the staff of her glaive between her and the new man. This one was wary of her upon seeing the bodies of his three comrades. She slowly moved one hand toward the handle of the ax sticking out of her glaive to pull it out, ready if the Scanran attacked. Another man came through just after she had pulled the ax out. She threw it at the new man. It would have hit him handle-first of course if he hadn't blocked it, as she didn't know how to properly throw an ax, even though her aim wasn't too bad. But it was enough of a distraction for her to get both her hands back on her glaive before the other man attacked.

She blocked and dodged, her movements becoming faster when the man she had thrown the ax at joined his friend. The two of them bore down on her. Kel tried to think rationally about her situation. Unfortunately, both men were very good fighters. On the other hand, they were far enough away from the bolt hole so that none of the other Scanrans coming through joined the fight as well, although that meant that the rest of the pursuit was going to chase the refugees instead of her... but she had more immediate concerns.

One of the men cut a deep slash in Kel's arm with his sword. She tried to use her injured arm to hold blocks, but each block shot pain up her arm. Her injured arm fell from her glaive. One of the men knocked her glaive out of her hand with the next strike. He reversed the blow, coming back and slashing her across the chest. Keladry of Mindelan fell, pain searing her torso. Her vision grayed, then turned black and never returned. The final stand of the Protector of the Small.

* * *

When Kel didn't appear, Merric was only just able to stop Neal from trying to go back and find her, telling the distraught healer that Kel would probably be awaiting them at Fort Mastiff. Wyldon sent a group of scouts out to search for Kel or her body, and to report on the situation at New Hope. They returned two days later with a corpse slung across the back of one of the scouts' horses.

* * *

Lord Raoul of Goldenlake and Malorie's Peak was, of course,the one who got the job of telling all of Kel's friends among Third Company of the King's Own. The men knew something was wrong when a messenger came galloping in and met with Lord Raoul, then they heard an enraged "WHAT?" and Raoul was actually crying when he came out. Amidst the confusion, no one thought about Sergeant Domitan of Masbolle until it was too late. He was never found, although the common theory was that he had thrown himself in a river upon hearing the news.

* * *

Lord Wyldon of Cavall had to order men to restrain Sir Merric of Hollyrose, Sir Nealan of Queenscove, Crown Prince Sir Roald of Conté, Sir Esmond of Nicoline, Sir Seaver of Tasride, Sir Cleon of Kennan, Sir Faleron of King's Reach, and Squire Owen of Jesslaw in order to keep Kel's friends from either coming to attack him for giving Kel a command assignment or riding out in a suicidal attempt to slaughter the Scanrans at New Hope who had killed the Lady Knight. These attempts stopped after Fanche Miller and the other New Hope refugees chewed Kel's young friends out upon finding him crouched behind his headquarters, crying silently and whispering questions to Mithros and the Great Mother as to why they had allowed Kel to be killed.

* * *

King Jonathan IV of Tortall didn't quite cry when he received the news because he hadn't known the Lady Knight very well. Queen Thayet actually did shed a few tears despite only having spoken to Kel on one occasion when discussing changing a law about the treatment of commoners as opposed to the treatment of nobles, because of the loss of one of Tortall's woman warriors. Crown Princess Shinkokami and was with her friend Lady Yukimi noh Daiomoru of Queenscove were together when they heard the news, both stretching their Yamani self-control to its limits to keep from crying over their lost friend.

* * *

Lady Ilane and Baron Piers of Mindelan were in the Yamani Islands and with the Emperor's court when the news came. Both somehow managed to hold onto their Yamani masks until after they had excused themselves to the court and returned to their rooms. There, they collapsed in each others' arms, crying for the death of their youngest daughter. The next day, they boarded a ship to Tortall.

* * *

Lalasa Isran and her friend Tian both cried when they heard, and Lalasa closed her shop down for an entire day so that the two could make black mourning dresses.

* * *

Daine the Wildmage headed to Fort Mastiff when she heard the news, and cried her eyes out upon the shoulder of her husband Numair Salmalin in the company of an equally sorrowful Peachblossom, who had somehow managed to break out of his stall and get out of New Hope through the bolt hole, with Kel's sad sparrow friends looking on.

* * *

Tobeis Boon barricaded himself in a stall of Fort Mastiff's stables for a week, crying. Kel had promised she wouldn't disappear on him!

* * *

Sir Alanna of Pirate's Swoop and Olau went nearly catatonic when she heard. She rode to Fort Mastiff from her own post on Tortall's northern border and had an extremely public rant against Lord Wyldon, tears streaming from her eyes the whole time. Lord Wyldon vehemently agreed with her, calling himself 50 types of idiot, tears starting in his own eyes as he agreed with Alanna's condemnations. Reaching a temporary truce, they both rode to Corus and asked for an audience with King Jonathan together, which nearly gave the King's secretary a heart attack, the two mortal enemies asking for an audience together. Then they both resigned from their posts and active service as knights together.

* * *

That was the extent to which Lady Knight Keladry of Mindelan, Protector of the Small, affected those she met and knew closely. But her presence left a far more widespread mark across Tortall than any of these people knew. The towns she had helped during her time as Raoul's squire, such as Haresfield, all had their own mourning sessions. So did Queensgrace, the town where Tobe had used to live. People in Corus knew of the noble who cared for commoners through the stories told by those who had met her like Lalasa and Tian. Progressive nobles living at the palace who believed in woman warriors like Duke Baird of Queenscove and Lady Uline of Hannalof had their own mourning rituals. Servants at the palace who had met her and been treated kindly by her also had their own mourning. Her supporters during her time as somewhat of a jousting star from the Grand Progress spoke of what it was like to watch her tilt. Of the first time she jousted on Progress, a first-year squire challenging a full knight and knocking him from the saddle. Of the time a conservative had tried to run her through and even dented her breastplate, yet she had still sent him flying. She was the noble who cared to commoner girls across the length and breadth of Tortall. She was an example to young noblewomen who also wanted to try for their shields. She had brought down Blayce the Gallan and Stenmun. She was a hero.

* * *

Please R&R, and tell me anything you think I should change, no matter how small. Grammatical, factual, or spelling errors, or someone important that Kel knew who I forgot.


End file.
